Ten months before he was steamrolling future rugby league immortal Cameron Smith for Canterbury on Sunday, Jayden Okunbor couldn't get a run in the Bulldogs' reserve grade side.
Okunbor, standing at 196cm tall and weighing in at 108kg, is the Bulldogs' latest NRL cult hero on the wing.
While his rise since his debut just a fortnight ago has been meteoric, his path to the NRL has hardly been smooth-sailing.
Coming through the grades as a second-rower, Okunbor found himself playing for Cabramatta in the third-tier Ron Massey Cup last June as part of the Bulldogs' sound partnership with the club.
"That drop down last year was the kick in the butt I needed," Okunbor said.
"When I was down there I told myself I didn't want to play that level of football anymore
"I just knew that I wasn't really working hard coming up to that drop.
"People have told me forever now that I am big enough to deal with these guys and I think it just clicked.
"I had to pull my finger out."
Okunbor's one-week stint for Cabramatta was significant for more than just one reason.
He returned to reserve grade as a winger for the first time, starring for the Bulldogs on the run to their national title last year.
The 22-year-old's journey then went full circle last month, discovering he was going to make his NRL debut while watching his former Cabramatta teammates play in the club's centenary season.
"I always set on being a second-rower or a centre. But I just love being on the wing now. You score tries and take all those fun carries," Okunbor said.
"That winger role now is basically like another second-rower.
"You've got to take that first carry and that's running into the middle like the big guys. My size helps me a bit"
But as for using that size to run over the NRL's most heralded player not once, but twice, in last week's two-point loss to the Storm?
"It might have been an off day for him but I'm pretty happy," he said.
"The first time I was a bit shocked. I found myself through the line when I realised it was Cameron I got through.
"The second time was just weird. I didn't expect it to happen twice in one game."
